Managing Comments Moderation

You’ve published posts. You’ve configured your discussion settings. Now comments are starting to trickle in—some real, some spam, some sitting in your moderation queue waiting for you to decide what’s what.

Here’s what comment moderation actually looks like: You’ll get email notifications when comments arrive. You’ll review them in your WordPress dashboard. You’ll approve the good ones, trash the spam, and occasionally reply to build community. It sounds tedious, but honestly, it takes about 2 minutes a day once you get the hang of it.

The goal? Keep your comment section valuable and engaging without spending hours babysitting it. We’ll show you how we handle day-to-day moderation, what to look for in spam versus real comments, and how to respond in ways that encourage more discussion.

What You Need

• Access to your WordPress dashboard
• Comments enabled on your blog (check Settings > Discussion if you’re not sure)
• Email access to receive comment notifications
• About 5 minutes a day for moderation once comments start flowing

That’s it. You don’t need plugins or special tools—WordPress gives you everything you need to manage comments effectively.

Where Comment Moderation Happens

In your dashboard, click Comments in the left sidebar.

You’ll see your comment management screen with several tabs at the top:

• All — Every comment on your blog, regardless of status
• Pending — Comments waiting for your approval (this is where you’ll spend most of your time)
• Approved — Comments already live on your blog
• Spam — Caught by spam filters or marked by you
• Trash — Deleted comments (they sit here for 30 days before permanent deletion)

Most days, you’ll click Comments and immediately see if anything’s pending. That number in the orange bubble next to “Comments” in your sidebar? That’s how many are waiting for you.

Understanding Comment Status

Every comment on your blog has a status. Here’s what each one means:

Pending — Waiting for your review. First-time commenters usually end up here, depending on your discussion settings. Nothing shows on your blog until you approve it.

Approved — Live on your site. Readers can see it. You can still edit or delete approved comments anytime.

Spam — Either caught automatically by spam filters or marked as spam by you. Hidden from readers. WordPress permanently deletes spam after a while to save database space.

Trash — Deleted comments sit here for 30 days before they’re gone forever. You can restore them if you made a mistake.

Most comment moderation involves moving things from Pending to either Approved or Spam. Pretty straightforward once you see it in action.

Reviewing Pending Comments

When you’ve got comments waiting, here’s what you’re looking at:

Each pending comment shows:

• The commenter’s name (or what they claimed their name is)
• Their email address
• Their website URL (if they provided one)
• The comment content
• Which post they commented on
• The timestamp

Quick scan the comment. Does it read like a real human response to your post? Or does it sound like generic praise with sketchy links?

Real Comments Look Like This:

• References something specific from your post
• Asks a genuine question
• Shares a related personal experience
• Disagrees (politely) with something you wrote
• Adds value or perspective to the topic

Spam Comments Look Like This:

• Generic praise that could apply to any blog (“Great post! Very informative!”)
• Includes multiple links to unrelated products or services
• Weird grammar or obviously translated text
• Name is a keyword or URL instead of a person’s name
• Email domain is sketchy or obviously fake
• Comment makes zero sense in context of your post

The Gray Area:

Sometimes you get comments that aren’t obvious spam but don’t really add value. “Nice post!” with no other context. “Thanks for sharing!” with a link to their own blog.

Your call. Some bloggers approve anything that’s not spam. Others are picky about quality. We’d say if it’s a real person engaging (even minimally), approve it. You’re building community, and short positive comments are better than no comments.

But if someone’s clearly just dropping links to their site without reading your post? That’s borderline spam. Don’t feel obligated to approve it.

Approving Comments

Hover over a pending comment and you’ll see action links appear below it: Approve | Reply | Edit | Spam | Trash.

Click Approve.

The comment moves to your Approved list and appears live on your blog post. The commenter (if they provided a real email) might get a notification that their comment is now visible, depending on your setup.

That’s it. Takes one second.

Marking Comments as Spam

When you spot spam, hover over it and click Spam.

This does two things:

1. Moves the comment to your Spam folder, hidden from readers
2. Trains WordPress’s spam filters (and Akismet if you’ve got it) to recognize similar spam in the future

Don’t just delete spam—mark it as spam. The more you do this, the better your automatic spam detection becomes. Eventually, most spam never even reaches your moderation queue.

Deleting Comments (Trash)

Hover over a comment and click Trash to delete it.

Trashed comments sit in your trash folder for 30 days before WordPress permanently deletes them. You can restore them during that window if you made a mistake.

When would you trash instead of spam?

• Real comments that violate your community standards (rude, inappropriate, off-topic)
• Duplicate comments from the same person
• Comments that accidentally revealed someone’s private information
• Your own test comments from when you were setting things up

For actual spam, use Spam instead. But for legitimate-but-unwanted comments, Trash is your option.

Replying to Comments

When someone leaves a thoughtful comment, replying shows you’re engaged and encourages more discussion. It’s honestly one of the best ways to build community around your blog.

Reply tips we’ve learned:

Don’t feel like you have to reply to every single comment. “Thanks!” comments don’t need a response. But questions, critiques, or comments that add to the discussion? Definitely reply when you can.

Be conversational. You’re not writing a dissertation. “Great question! Yeah, that works too. I usually do X, but your approach makes sense if you’re dealing with Y.”

Ask follow-up questions. “Have you tried Z? I’d be curious to hear if that helps with your situation.”

Thank people for detailed comments. “This is awesome—thanks for sharing your experience! I’m adding this to the post because it’s super helpful.”

You don’t have to reply immediately. Some bloggers reply within hours; others batch their replies once a week. Find what works for you.

Editing Comments

Hover over a comment and click Edit to open the comment editor.

You can change:

• The comment text
• The commenter’s name, email, or website URL
• The comment status (Pending/Approved/Spam)
• Which post it’s attached to
• The timestamp

When would you edit instead of approve/trash?

• Commenter made a typo and asked you to fix it
• Comment includes someone’s personal info that shouldn’t be public (like a phone number)
• Spam got through but it’s just a link you want to remove (delete the link, keep the rest)
• The comment has good content but includes one inappropriate word

Bulk Actions for Faster Moderation

If you’ve got a dozen pending comments and most are spam, you don’t have to handle them one by one.

This is a huge time-saver when you’ve been away from your blog for a week and come back to 30 spam comments. Select them all, mark as spam, done.

Comment Notifications (Managing Email Overload)

By default, WordPress emails you when someone comments. You configured this in Settings > Discussion under “Email me whenever anyone posts a comment.”

If you’re getting too many emails, you’ve got options:

Turn off all comment emails: Go to Settings > Discussion and uncheck “Email me whenever anyone posts a comment.” You’ll need to check your dashboard manually for new comments.

Keep moderation emails only: Uncheck the general notification but KEEP “Email me whenever a comment is held for moderation” checked. This way you only get emails for comments that need your review, not for every auto-approved comment from repeat commenters.

Filter emails to a folder: If you don’t want to turn off notifications, set up an email filter to move WordPress comment notifications to a dedicated folder. Check it once a day instead of having them clutter your inbox.

Dealing with Spam (Long-Term Strategy)

If you’re following good discussion settings (we covered those in our Discussion Settings tutorial), most spam never reaches you. But sometimes it gets through.

Here’s what works:

Consistently mark spam as spam. Don’t just delete it. Marking trains your filters.

Add common spam keywords to your moderation list. Go to Settings > Discussion and add terms like “viagra,” “casino,” “replica,” “SEO services”—whatever you’re seeing repeatedly. Future comments containing those words go to moderation or spam automatically.

Enable Akismet. Most Badass Network blogs have this enabled automatically, but check with support if you’re drowning in spam. Akismet catches millions of spam comments before they ever hit your moderation queue.

Close comments on old posts. In Settings > Discussion, enable “Automatically close comments on articles older than X days.” Set it to 60 or 90 days. Old posts attract spam bots; closing comments after a couple months drastically reduces spam without affecting new posts.

Don’t stress about it. You’ll get spam. Everyone does. It takes 5 seconds to mark and move on. Don’t let it stop you from enabling comments entirely—the real conversations are worth the occasional spam cleanup.

Responding to Negative or Critical Comments

Sometimes someone disagrees with you. Or criticizes your post. Or points out you got something wrong.

First reaction: Don’t panic. Negative comments aren’t personal attacks (usually).

If the comment is polite disagreement or constructive criticism, approve it and respond. “Good point—I hadn’t considered that angle. Here’s why I approached it this way, but yeah, your method works too.”

If the comment is rude but raises a valid point, you can still approve and respond. “I appreciate the feedback, though the tone’s a bit harsh. You’re right that I should’ve mentioned X—I’ll update the post.”

If the comment is just mean-spirited or trolling with no value, trash it. You’re not obligated to platform abuse. Your blog, your rules.

If someone points out a factual error, thank them and fix your post. “Great catch—you’re absolutely right. I’ve updated the post. Thanks for letting me know!”

When to Disable Comments on Specific Posts

You’ve got comments enabled by default, but sometimes you’ll want to turn them off for specific posts.

Go to Posts > All Posts. Hover over the post and click Quick Edit. You’ll see a checkbox: Allow Comments. Uncheck it and click Update.

Comments are now disabled on that post. Existing comments (if any) remain visible, but readers can’t add new ones.

Or disable comments BEFORE publishing: In the post editor, open the Settings sidebar on the right. Under Discussion, uncheck Allow comments.

When would you do this?

• Personal posts where you don’t want reader input
• Controversial topics where you don’t want to moderate a flame war
• Announcements or updates that don’t need discussion
• Posts that keep attracting spam despite your best efforts

Encouraging Quality Comments

You can’t force people to comment, but you CAN make it easier and more appealing.

Ask questions at the end of posts. “What’s your approach to this? Let me know in the comments.”

Respond to comments quickly. Shows you’re engaged and makes people want to comment again.

Feature great comments in future posts. “Reader Sarah left a great tip in the comments on my last post—here’s what she said…”

Write controversial or thought-provoking content. Not to be a jerk, but to spark discussion. People comment more on “Here’s why I think X is overrated” than on “Here’s a nice list of tips.”

Make commenting easy. Don’t require registration. Don’t have a CAPTCHA unless spam is overwhelming. The fewer hoops, the more comments.

Set the tone. If your first few comments are thoughtful and respectful, future commenters tend to follow that pattern. If your comment section is full of spam and garbage, quality commenters won’t bother. So moderate well from day one.

What You’ve Accomplished

You now know how to manage comments on your blog—approving real discussions, trashing spam, replying to build community, and handling the day-to-day moderation that comes with an active blog.

Comment moderation might feel tedious at first, but it’s actually one of the most rewarding parts of blogging. Those real conversations? They’re proof people are reading and engaging with your work.

Keep your comment section healthy by staying on top of moderation, responding when it makes sense, and not letting spam pile up. You’ll build a community of readers who actually care about your content, which is the whole point of blogging in the first place.

Next step? Just keep blogging. As you publish more, you’ll get more comments. Check your dashboard once a day, spend a couple minutes approving and replying, and you’re done.